Louie Napoleone, director of local business partnerships for Tulsa Innovation Labs, and Tarek Kandalaft, co-founder of Ironbird Studios, were special guests Friday at the Tulsa Regional Chamber’s most recent quarterly Aerospace Council meeting. 

About 45 attendees at NORDAM Group’s Transparency Division heard Napoleone and Kandalaft discuss initiatives to expand the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and unmanned aerial system (UAS) industries in northeast Oklahoma. The meeting was sponsored by Arvest. 

Ironbird Studios will work with local and national entrepreneurs to build venture-backable technology in aerospace and robotics.

“It’s things that were science fiction but aren’t, anymore,” Kandalaft said of Ironbird’s mission. He said such technology typically is developed by people with the deepest pockets, using as examples Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

“We think there’s a better way,” Kandalaft said. “There are a lot of dreamers out there. There are a lot of really talented engineers with really great ideas but with really no way to get that idea started and to get that traction and actually launch a great company.

“We are in a manufacturing race with other parts of the world. We’re not going to out-labor China any time soon, but we can outsmart China. And that’s the way to do it. We have to empower our workforce to be able to do more with less.”

Tulsa Innovation Labs (TIL) is a nonprofit organization focused on economic development. The U.S. Economic Development Administration two years ago awarded the Tulsa region a $38.2 million grant to be used by a Tulsa-based coalition of organizations – including TIL – to create the Tulsa Regional Advanced Mobility (TRAM) Corridor.

“We’re working really hard for Tulsa’s tech future,” Napoleone said. “…But we can’t do it in silos.

“We haven’t figured it all out. And we’re counting on you to help guide us, tell us when something is not working. We want to not make many assumptions without the validation of the people in this room.”

The Tulsa Regional Chamber launched the Aerospace Council in 2020 to provide a forum to share best practices within the aerospace and defense industry, and to provide networking opportunities for industry professionals.

The Council meets quarterly at local aerospace employers and educational facilities. For more information about the Aerospace Council, please contact the Chamber's Brien Thorstenberg at 918-560-0231.